Have HDD and bios pwds on Dell Inspiron 2500, how to remove HDD first?

this is a dell inspiron 2500 , its already been refurbed, (still got the sticker on bottom), p3 proc, i don't know bout RAM, hdd capacity, ect. cant do ANYTHING without the hd. the owner bought it secondhand, on the story from the previous owner that it just needed a new hd, and the password would be removed with the old drive. well, thats their request to me; replace the hd and install XP on it. i do light refurb work on mostly desktops, and pasword work hasn't been an issue..but they want me to try to save the cost of the new drive, ect, ect. so, having seen other posts about dell bios pwd fixes, i had to ask!! anyone know how to go about this? if i could get into bios, perhaps changing the boot order could boot my XP disk, but i dont know that will even help, cause it seems the password is stored on the mobo, just a feeling.... any advice?

We do not help with password issues on TechSpot.
Your best bet is to register the new owner on Dell, then wait 21 business days fof verification that it has not been stolen, then contact their tech support by telephone after the registration has been in place the 21 business days.

well, thank you for responding to let me know at least that much! i know this person thru our faith based program, and it is his co-worker at goodwill industries, but that doesnt mean it HAS to be 'legit', i suppose... and i see your point about techspots' position on the issue. however, after reading several posts on other threads, it will take at minimum $50 to get dell to help us, and possibly more AND alot of time and aggrivation, plus the possible cost of another hd, well, this laptop would just about be 'total-ed out', money wise. they paid about a hundred and a half for it, and with the other costs... well you know as well as me that they didn't make a great purchase. i simpathize (?) (not a great speller) with their situation. so, i will continue to attempt to help them. you know, i believe you about this site's policy's, but here is the link to the post i read that gives some password help to another poster, and i would never rock the boat, but this person is getting help with this very subject there, perhaps you or someone could shed some light on this for me? p.s. i couldnot put the link in here, i haven't made enough posts' yet.. but will get you the info if you want it

well, thank you for responding to let me know at least that much! i know this person thru our faith based program, and it is his co-worker at goodwill industries, but that doesnt mean it HAS to be 'legit', i suppose... and i see your point about techspots' position on the issue. however, after reading several posts on other threads, it will take at minimum $50 to get dell to help us, and possibly more AND alot of time and aggrivation, plus the possible cost of another hd, well, this laptop would just about be 'total-ed out', money wise. they paid about a hundred and a half for it, and with the other costs... well you know as well as me that they didn't make a great purchase. i simpathize (?) (not a great speller) with their situation. so, i will continue to attempt to help them. you know, i believe you about this site's policy's, but here is the link to the post i read that gives some password help to another poster, and i would never rock the boat, but this person is getting help with this very subject there, perhaps you or someone could shed some light on this for me? p.s. i could not put the link in here, i haven't made enough posts' yet.. but will get you the info if you want it